outside at grandpa and grandma's

Levi loves to be outside. He has for several months now. Anytime he hears the back door open he runs to go outside. He often finds his shoes, puts them on, and starts yelling "OUTSIDE."

The same goes when we are at grandpa and grandma's house. He usually begs to go outside there too. Here are some pictures of us outside at their house. How Isaiah didn't make it into a single picture is beyond me, but somehow he didn't. :) And then shoving his face with a chocolate granola bar after our outside time. This boy can't get enough chocolate either!

graduation party (2 of 2)

After the graduation ceremony we had a little party at our house. Our intention was to have some snacks and play outside games, unfortunately the 40 degree weather left us to the alternative plan of packing our house full of friends and family. So that's what we did.

I must admit, we had more people show up than we expected! Which was a great surprise! It's so nice to have such support from friends and family! We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives! Sorry everyone that it was a bit crowded!!

I didn't get pictures of everyone who came; I really wish I would have! But here are the pictures of who I did capture!

Molly, Aaron, Mindy, Brian (in front) Knut, Hallie and us - part of our small groupJordan & Larry (Mark's cousins), Mark, Aunt Kelly and Uncle Kris


Tony, Mark and Connie - TC's managers! Mark calls Connie TC's Mama
family shot! Someone came up with the idea for our family to all wear the same shirts (I think it was a team effort between Mark and his mom). If you look close they are UNI shirts with a big picture of TC. Michele, my mom, my dad, Mark, Me, Levi, Jay, Nichole, Liahna, Uncle Matthew and Isaiah. haha! Aunt Kim and Uncle Justin
LeAnna and Caiden playing monsters with Isaiah
Shannon and Anna
The boys had fun playing with the handful of kids that came to celebrate! Levi was especially happy because his "girlfriend" Lilian was there! Remember her from this post? He continued to hang on her and follow her around :)

At one point we had 7 kids on the bed. I know jumping on the bed isn't the safest activity for kids - but it sure is fun! :)

cousins! (thanks Caiden for letting Levi and Liahna borrow your Panther's shirts!)

And to do things backwards, here is a picture of Mark and his mom setting up for the party.

What a fun party! Thanks everyone for coming!!

graduation and the big REVEAL. (part 1 of 2)

Wow! What can I say! He did it! He graduated...as in he is a graduate!! Way to go Mark!! What a proud day we had on Saturday! Mark participated in the Saturday afternoon Spring Commencement ceremony. He looked so handsome in his graduation gown! Don't you think?
In case you are wondering, the purple sash (or whatever it would be called) is a symbol of his completion of the American Humanics program.

The ceremony was a typical ceremony filled with several speeches followed by the graduates walking across the stage. Giving the reader his name card.
Getting his diploma!
Now do you notice something different about Mark's feet in these pictures? Take a closer look at his feet in this picture...Can you guess why he's wearing those feet? Yep, that's right. Mark was TC the Panther! It was his top secret until graduation day when he got to show off who he was by wearing TC's feet, pretty cool, huh? So if you were at a football game, wrestling meet, volleyball game, basketball game, pep rally, alumni function or pretty much any other event and saw TC, it was probably Mark!

So that's been our big secret this semester! He hasn't been "allowed" to tell anyone that he is TC. Mainly to keep TC from turning into someone else (for example, if you saw TC at a football game and you knew it was Mark, you might say "Hey Mark!" and try to talk with him). It's been a fun secret to keep. I'll post some more pictures of him being TC soon now that I can share it with you!

Anyway, the ceremony was nice. Mark had lots of family there supporting him - which meant a lot to him and to me! Most of us are pictured below, (but thanks to Mark's dad, Kelly, Kris, Jordan, and Larry who were also there). And thanks to LeAnna who was on baby duty and had my boys and Liahna so we could enjoy the ceremony kid free!Congratulations Mark and the class of 2010!

California Cousins.

My cousin Jenny, who now lives in California, was in Iowa last weekend! We met her family, along with my grandma, sister, and Aunt Sharon, in Ames at Brookside. We had a nice time! It was fun to catch up with Jenny and watch the second cousins play. Joe, Jenny's son, is 2 1/2 so right in between Isaiah and Levi. He is sure cute! Here they are 1.5, 2.5 and 3.5.Brookside is so big! There are several park areas, lots of open space, a bridge, a firetruck and so much more. We were all over the park! Even Great Grandma Carol joined in and played at the park! A family shot. (pay no attention to my extremely white legs!:)
Despite the wind, it was a beautiful day, I'm glad we were able to spend it with family!

done.

He did it! Mark is all done with the work he needed to complete to get his bachelor's degree! Graduation is on Saturday! We are all so proud and excited for him! Way to go honey!!

On Friday night (after he turned in his last paper and gave his presentation) my parents came over to grill out and celebrate. Take a look at the H.U.G.E steaks that Mark and my dad ate!Congratulations Mark!!

Carson.

On Monday we were lucky enough to have my friend Kara's two youngest kids come over and play. It was Ashley's nap time so she slept the entire playtime away, but Isaiah, Levi and Carson had TONS of boy fun! Carson will be four in May so he is 4 months older than Isaiah - which is good for Isaiah (and for Carson, he has 3 sisters!) someone just a little bit older than him to play tough with him - give him a taste of his own medicine! :)

It was another beautiful day, so we spent the afternoon outside. The biggest hit was the Jeep...
and the tractor...
and the race car... The boys thought they were really cool all driving around the driveway!
They started racing each other around on the cars -- haha. The tractor one EVERY time (no matter who was driving) that thing is FAST! So they quickly got tired of the tractor winning and decided to do it the old fashioned way...

On your marks...
Get set...
Go...What a great way to spend the afternoon! We can't wait to play with Carson (and Ashley) again soon! Friends are the best!

what's your favorite?

I think it's fun to ask Isaiah what his favorite things are. He is always changing his mind and enjoying new things... Here is his latest answers about his favorite things...

what's your favorite...

color - purple
animal - t-rex
food - mac & cheese and ramen noodles (haha)
shape - "rectangle, hey - I mean circle"
book - "chipmunks" referring to "Alivin and the Chipmunks, Meet the 'munks"
thing to wear - Go Fish Guys (The blue shirt he got at their concert last summer)
thing to do outside - dig with my tractor
fruit - "strawberries, and Jayda likes strawberries"
toy - "that frisbee over there"
place to go - "the mall" ("why," I asked him, "we play games N stuff")
letter - "J" ("even more than I?" I asked, "yeah.")
thing to say - "ummmm I love you"
food to eat for breakfast - french toast, waffles and pankcakes
friend - "I like Rhea, Erica, Caiden, Jayda, Jonah." What about Levi," I asked. "He's just here." Isaiah said, "Isn't here you friend?" "No, he's my brother"


click here to see his answers from October 2009.